Ultimatum To Haney: Defend Or Vacate WBC Title

Promoter Bob Arum says Devin Haney should give up his WBC light welterweight title if he doesn’t want to defend against his mandatory Sandor Martin next.

Arum’s Stance

Arum’s company won the purse bid to stage Haney’s fight against Martin (42-3, 15 KOs) this week, but he says if Devin doesn’t want to take the fight, he needs to give up his WBC title. Martin will then fight the next available fighter in the WBC’s top ten ranking at 140.

Haney is unhappy about Tuesday’s low purse bid, which is understandable because he was paid well for his previous fight against Ryan Garcia. It had to be jarring for Haney to go from making mega-millions against Ryan to looking at a payday of $1.5 million for a title defense against Martin.

Arum says Haney can fight Teofimo Lopez next if he doesn’t wish to face Sandor. A fight between Haney and WBO light welterweight champion Teofimo would have e a world title at stake.

“So, give up the title, and Sandor Martin will fight the next guy available. That’s what the rules are for,” said Bob Arum to Sean Zittel, reacting to being told that WBC light welterweight champion Devin Haney doesn’t want to fight his mandatory Sandor Martin next.

“So, if Haney doesn’t want the fight, good. He’ll do something else. Every fighter has to look out for himself, and if he decides he doesn’t want to fight Sandor Martin, then he’ll fight somebody else,” Arum continued about Haney.

“He may say, ‘I don’t want to fight Sandor Martin. I’ll give up the title, but is Teofimo available? I want to fight Teofimo instead.’ Well, that’s an attractive fight. Again, there are a lot of moving pieces here. Right now, we won the purse bid for Haney and Martin.

“Either Haney does the fight or gives up the title. The choice is his. I’m not going to get angry at anybody for looking out for the best possibility for themselves. That’s up to them, and if he thinks that’s the way to go, who am I to disagree?

“It would mean [Haney] fighting [Ryan] Garcia in a non-title fight, but that’s not the worst thing in the world. Who knows what kind of suspension Garcia gets from the New York Commission?

“Maybe he decides if the suspension is short enough to fight Teofimo,” said Arum about Ryan Garcia.